1. Field of Art
The present disclosure generally relates to the field of improving quality of life for inmates of a correctional institution and more specifically to supporting inmate communications via messages over a messaging service.
2. Background of the Invention
Jail phone systems have existed for some time and provide inmates of a correctional institution with the ability to make outbound calls to friends or relatives, usually for up to 15 minutes at a time. Jail phone systems enhance the quality of life for inmates and provide a source of revenue for the correctional institution and phone vendors. Inmates that wish to use the phone system are either charged a fee when the call is answered or incur a fee on the recipient to answer the call, which may be charged at a flat fee or per minute rate. The inmates' phone calls are recorded and oftentimes the communications of an inmate are monitored by the inmate's case-agent, making them a valuable intelligence-gathering source when criminal activities and actors in the criminal activities are openly discussed over the phone.
More recently, vendors have introduced systems that enable inmates to send and receive e-mail. These systems have time and cost components similar to phone calls placed through the jail phone system, but serve the specific function of e-mail communication.
While these systems improve the life of inmates, they ignore one of the most predominate methods of communication. Specifically, they do not support the sending and receipt of messages over a messaging service such as short message service and multimedia messaging service. Hence, a system supporting inmate communications via messages over a messaging service can further improve the quality of life for incarcerated individuals.